Classic Triumph Cars for Sale

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Triumph produced some of Britain's most beloved sports cars from 1923 to 1984. The TR series, Spitfire, and GT6 deliver classic British open-top motoring at accessible prices.

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Pittsfield, MA

Frequently Asked Questions about Classic Triumph

Triumph was founded by Siegfried Bettmann, a German from Nuremberg who started a bicycle business in London in the 1880s and then set up a factory in Coventry, England. The company began making motorcycles in 1902, and its first car, the Triumph 10/20, appeared in 1923. Cars and motorcycles belonged to one company until 1936, when the motorcycle business was sold to Jack Sangster of Ariel.

Founder Siegfried Bettmann picked the Triumph name for his bicycles because it would be understood in more than one language. Old Bike Mart records that he wanted a name recognized in England, France and Germany, and a TR Drivers Club history adds that he liked its hopeful connotations. The Classic MotorCycle magazine notes that his own surname, Bettmann, sounded hardly English enough.

Triumph changed hands several times. The car company went into receivership in 1939, and the Standard Motor Company bought what remained in 1944, a deal some histories date to 1945. Leyland Motors agreed to buy Standard-Triumph in December 1960 and completed the takeover in 1961. In 1968 Leyland merged with British Motor Holdings to form British Leyland, which kept Triumph until the name was retired.

Triumph cars were built in Coventry, England, for most of the marque's history. After the Standard Motor Company took over, production moved to Standard's factory at Canley, on the outskirts of Coventry. The TR7 was first assembled at Speke in Liverpool, moved to Canley in 1978, and finished its run at the Rover plant in Solihull from 1980. The Acclaim, the last Triumph, was assembled at Cowley, Oxford.

Triumph stopped making cars in 1984. Its last sports car, the TR7, went out of production in October 1981, leaving only the Acclaim, a model based on the Honda Ballade. The Acclaim ended in June 1984 and its replacement was sold as the Rover 200, so the Triumph badge disappeared from new cars. BMW acquired the Triumph car trademark when it bought the Rover Group in 1994.

The Triumph Spitfire was a small British sports car built from 1962 to 1980. Giovanni Michelotti styled it, and it was based on the Triumph Herald sedan, sharing that car's running gear. Its four-cylinder engine grew from 1,147 cc in the Mk I and Mk II to 1,296 cc in the Mk III and Mk IV, then to 1,493 cc in the Spitfire 1500, which reached the United States in 1973 and Britain in 1974.

Specialist buyer's guides describe the Triumph TR6 as mechanically tough but prone to rust. Goodwood calls the 2.5-liter six-cylinder engine generally tough with proper care. Hagerty warns that the cars can rust almost anywhere, singles out a rotten chassis as the most disturbing fault and points to the rear trailing arm mounting points. Hagerty and Moss Motoring both flag the differential mounts as a known breakage point.

The Triumph GT6 was a six-cylinder coupe developed from the Spitfire and built from 1966 to 1973. Giovanni Michelotti designed the body, and power came from a 2.0-liter inline six. The Mk1 kept the Spitfire's swing-axle rear suspension, which the Mk2 of 1968 replaced with lower wishbones and Rotoflex couplings.

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